Chocolate Drops and Lemon Swirls
by Mooncatcher
Summary: The zutara drabble box set. Venture in if thou wishes for something Zuko and Katara-ish, short, and romance-driven. Genres change according to moods. You've been warned.
1. the best things come in two

**A/N: My first drabble set. Oh, I'm so proud of myself.**

**Disclaimer: Owning Avatar, like kidnapping Bryke or taking over the world, is simply not within my abilities. And that's why we have fanfiction.  
**

_A tale of two cities_

One was carved out of ice that swayed and shimmered under the arctic sun. The other was bricked together with blocks of ash and hardened crimson flame. When the sun and moon eclipses them, shadows dance, winds howl, and nothing has ever been more beautiful.

For despite those differences, those two cities situated at opposite ends of the world --fused together with passion and determination and ambition-- had more in common than one thought.

_A pair of spirit koi_

Round and round they circle each other, black against white, white against black, in an endless circle they will never grow tired of. The pond ripples with their magnificence, and the trees sing of the harmony they are grown in. Sparks festoon the space where they nearly touch. Peace is laced like arsenic in the air.

Round and round, round and round, as they continue to balance the precarious corners of the earth with each other.

_A cave of two lovers_

His golden gaze sizzles in steam and evaporate like paper butterflies when they meet her cool blue one. The flame that pours out in torrents from the liquidated sunshine ore can only combat the thick, azure jets of icicles that are hidden behind her river-water orbs.

His hands are shockingly pale against the tan skin of her shoulders; yet they smolder with an unnatural warmth that seems to fray every nerve in her body.

"We're on opposite ends of the world, Katara." Zuko whispers, and then he is kissing her. He is kissing her with a fierce intensity that threatens to overwhelm her if she hadn't promptly thrown her arms around his neck and is kissing him back with passion.

Then they stop and separate their lips, stare at each other for a shell shocked moment, then glue their lips back to each other again, hands roving through hair and hips as the chaos dissolves.

Harmony stirs, flickers, and finally reigns.


	2. coffeeholics anonymous

**A/N: Let's all hear it for AU! (and coffee! loving Zutara!)**

He has an iced mocha frappuccino in one hand, and is balancing a pile of theoretical physics textbooks on the other.

She's nursing a green tea chai latter and is trying to cram a stack of Mariah Carey CDs and a psychology handbook into a canvas bag that's stubbornly refusing to comply.

"Hey." He smiles. She stops breathing.

"Hi." She lets _Music Box_ fall to the ground.

"Name's Zuko." She notices he has taken off the cardboard ring around his coffee cup and has slung it around his wrist, like a bracelet. Just like hers.

"Katara." Her eyes, he realizes, are the exact color of oceans rippling with sheens of ice. Light. Cool. Icily azure.

"Very nice to meet you."

"Charmed."

An awkward, yet companionable silence as they look at each other, heads cocked.

"So…wanna go for coffee?"

She looks pointedly at the rapidly condensing frappuccino settled in his hands, then at the latte that's balanced in the crook of her arm.

He drops the frappuccino without hesitation. "Whoops." The dark brown cream dribbles over the pavement. Frost and chunks of ice spider the gravel.

He smirks. She smiles.

A small swirl of steam sizzles when the green tea chai latte comes in contact with the spilt frappuccino as its Styrofoam cap comes loose when it hits the ground.

"Oh." Katara says, her grin growing wider. "How clumsy of me."

Zuko offers her his arm. She takes it. "Milady." He mock bows. She hits him with her canvas bag.

They walk off into the Starbucks they just came out of less than five minutes ago together.


	3. another overcliched ruse

_A/N: Because we _all_ need one of these super-short Zutara kiss drabbles in our profiles. ;)_

"I am _this_ close to kissing your filthy mouth right now, you lowly peasant." He has her pinned against the tree, and she can't get away.

Katara doesn't really mind.

"Then what's stopping you, oh so mighty fire prince?" She whispers fiercely back, staring back into his eyes as she waits for the answer.

But instead of getting one, his lips slant over hers as the space between them disappears, and she finds that she doesn't really mind.


	4. i'm yours

He's grinning crookedly at her, eyes glinting in the moon, teeth as white as pearls, and she smiles happily back. Zuko grabs Katara's hand and kisses it as he sets her down onto the dew-bladed grass, her layers of robes billowing beneath her as his thumb traces the contour of her cheekbones.

"Quit it." Katara bats his hand away as she hooks her hands around his neck to pull his face closer to hers. "You'll ruin my make-up." And it was very pretty make-up too. Bone-white powder, sea-green eye shadow and the prettiest lip paint, rose-red and gleaming beatifically in the moonlight.

Zuko laughs rebelliously as his lips hover near hers, but as soon as their breaths begin to mingle he drops his head down to lay butterfly kisses along the hidden concave of her neck. Then, suddenly jutting his jaw upwards, Zuko starts grinning again as their eyes lock and match.

Only this time is was more feral. Dangerous. Seductive.

_And as sexy as hell_.

"So, _Fire Lady_," He purrs as his mouth trails lightly against the course of her jaw to the tip of her earlobe, where little gold ear bobs rest. "Now that you're one of the most important, influential political figures in the entire Fire Nation, what do you want to do now?" Zuko kisses her lightly on the tip of her nose before touching the tip of his lips to Katara's temple. She growls in annoyance. He resists the urge to laugh.

"I think you know _exactly_ what I want to do,_ Fire Lord._" He catches the scent of jasmine tea and fire lilies as Katara suddenly sits up and buries her face in the side of his neck, murmuring silkily into his tightly-bound hair. Her fingers tiptoe across his face—skewing wildly over his nose, slowly tracing his jaw line, artfully skimming over the skin of his cheeks—before they draw themselves up his forehead, into his hair and smoothly remove the crown that sits regally in his newly re-grown topknot.

"Mm." Katara hums deep in her throat as she casually tugs at the band holding his hair in. Then she stops and looks him dead in the eye. "_Exactly_what I want."

Zuko smiles at her, cups her cheek, and in one swift motion closes the gap between their lips. When they separate she's already pulling down his shoulder pads and he's loosening the sash around her waist as he kisses her cheeks and jaw and collarbone.

He grins. "Well then; I'm yours."

And by the way Katara's already straddling his waist; he knows she's fully prepared to take every advantage of that little fact.


	5. five hundred twenty five thousand

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Avatar, the song, Snoopy, or _Rent_, the movie.  
No matter how much I want to. (Pouts.)**

Katara is singing. Zuko is annoyed.

"_Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes…" _Her voice is brashly echoing in the air, and he clutches his head, twirling a pencil irately in his hands. "_Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear,_ _five hundred—_"

"Katara!"

"Yes, Zuzu?" She smiles sweetly. _Zuzu_ scowls back and curses Azula for ever giving him that nickname. Then telling everybody about it.

"Don't call me Zuzu. And stop singing!"

Katara clasps a hand to her mouth instantly, her face portraying the perfect picture of (fake. It's _fake_, dammit!) saddened shock. "But Zuzu ("don't call me Zuzu!"), I thought you loved my singing. Doesn't it bring joy and enlighten your murky heart?"

She receives a blank stare in return. (Okay, so maybe she overdid it just a little bit…)

"No, Zuko, I won't stop, because I really, _really_ like singing!"

Zuko, in response, glares at her. It's very menacing, but in kind of a seductive way. "Not while we're studying for that Calculus test, Katara."

Katara raises an eyebrow. She hates Calculus with a burning passion. So Zuko, being the helpful, amiable boyfriend he was, had offered to tutor her. (A mistake, she knew, he was now regretting dearly.) She schemes. She smirks.

"Well, _Zuko_, if you don't want me singing," She tucks a piece of hair behind her ears and swipes her tongue along her lips. Cherry Chapstick. "Is there something _else_," Katara drops on all fours in a single, fluid movement, draping her hair over her shoulder and begins to pad gracefully towards him. She juts her jaw into his face. She sees his eyes widen.

Katara smiles.

"_Anything_," She continues, as their noses touch and bump together. "Else you want me to do instead?" Katara bumps her lips against Zuko's, for the briefest of moments. Their breaths still mingle when she pulls back just a fraction of a centimeter later.

Zuko's breathe catches for a moment. His heart stops. Eyes slant craftily, hot and fevered and passionate. "Actually, yes." He leans forward. They kiss for two and a half seconds.

Then a large, thick textbook is shoved in her face. Katara shifts in confusion. Zuko smirks at her. "Page ninety-one, exercises A through J, and show your working." He tosses a pencil, an eraser, and a Snoopy protractor at her. "Don't wait up."

For a moment, the girl stares at the unappealing book helplessly. Then she snaps her head up to glower heatedly at Zuko, who's suppressing a chuckle. A very distinctive word floats out between her teeth. "_ Bastard_." Zuko smirks wider.

Ah well. Nothing more to lose now. "_How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. Five hundred twenty five thousand…_"

Zuko groans. Katara laughs.


	6. sokka love

_A/N: Pfft. Because every Zutara fic needs some Sokka love, you know. ;)_

Sokka was having a bad day.

Mind you, he wasn't _supposed_ to have a bad day. In fact, he should be perfectly content right now. I mean,

1. He got his girlfriend _and_ his dad back from those stupid Fire Nation Bastards ™.

2. Aang had a gotten a Firebending teacher. Yes, it was Zuko (Jerkbender), but after his life-changing field trip with him to rescue said girlfriend and dad, the tension had lessened considerably

3. Aang could now pretty much face the Fire Lord.

4. And speaking of Fire Lords, they were safely hidden from any of them, with no evil psycho princesses or evil psycho Fire Lords or evil psycho assassins with eyes on their foreheads hunting them down.

So, all in all, Sokka should be having a _great_ day. So it just made him more pissed off that he wasn't. Why, you ask?

Well, this morning, Aang and Zuko (Jerkbender) decided to practice their usual Firebending drills, which was usually fine by him. Until this morning, because Zuko just _had_ to demonstrate some new Jerkbending form to Aang when Sokka was conveniently (or inconveniently, depending on who you were) walking by, thus setting his pants on fire.

Sokka did not take that well.

Then Katara, woken up by the chaos, had promptly drenched him in a gigantic tidal wave from head to foot in an attempt to put said fire out, which would've been great, except now he was drenched from head to foot.

Sokka didn't take that too well either.

And of course, since Katara was inanely suspicious of Zuko (Jerkbender), even though everybody else had gotten over their suspicions quite a well ago, she instantly interpreted this 'honest mistake' as an assassination attempt on Sokka's life, and thus promptly dragged Zuko (Jerkbender) into some secluded spot to shout at him, where Zuko (Jerkbender) promptly shouted back.

That was when Sokka thought his day started looking up. Boy; was he wrong.

After five minutes of their little escapade, the clearing stopped shaking from the screaming. In fact, nobody could hear a peep from where Katara and Zuko (Jerkbender) were.

So Sokka had then diplomatically and graciously offered to check on the pair to see if they were captured by Fire Nation soldiers or eaten by angry saber-tooth moose bears. Heck. he even hummed as he walked, quite cheerfully, he might add, _definitely_ not expecting that sight that met him.

Which was, to Sokka's complete and utter _surpriseshockdisgust_, his pure, innocent, wonderful baby sister making out.

With Zuko (Jerkbender). who has been completely classified as one of those Fire Nation Bastards ™.

Thus turning his started-bad-but-turning-great day into bad again.

This might also explain why an angry! Sokka is chasing around a running! Zuko brandishing his boomerang threateningly, cursing with such intensity it burned everybody's innocent virgin ears, while a pretty much pissed off! Katara was trying to keep her brother from killing her (apparent) boyfriend.

And the fact that Zuko (Jerkbender, Fire Nation Bastard ™) was a pretty fast runner, much to Sokka's frustration, only made his day worst, because he still hadn't had the chance to castrate him yet (but just you wait. He'll get him…eventually).

Anyway. After ten minutes of angry! Sokka and running! Zuko, the Water Tribe warrior was pretty much exhausted. Who knew that Fire Nation Bastard™ had so much strength in those stupid skinny legs? Sokka was just about to give up and go back to camp, all the while cursing and brooding about his bad-turned-to-worst day, until they heard it.

"ZUKO!!!" _(Jerkbender, Fire Nation Bastard ™_, Sokka added mentally)

And thus his salvation came in form of an angry twelve-year old Avatar who had probably just found out the girl he had been crushing on had been kissed by his Firebending teacher.

"ZUKO!!!" You could practically _hear_ the Avatar state reactivating. Sokka grinned and opened his mouth. Zuko (Jerkbender, Fire Nation Bastard ™) saw said grin and instantly adopted a look that said '_oh, HELL no_'.

Sokka grins wider. He then opens his oversized mouth and lets every inch of volume from his overloud vocal cords rip out. "HEY AANG! GUESS WHAT I FOUND?"

Silence.

(Sound of trees collapsing and boulders in an avalanche.)

Zuko runs as a flash of pure-orange fury starts to appear as a line of trees simultaneously get destroyed.

Sokka grins so wide, he's pretty sure all that's left of his face is a bunch of pearly white teeth.

Sokka just had the _best day ever_.


	7. fathers

_A/N: Okay, you guys, this was partially inspired by Teen Freak's Drabble Therapy, who first planted the what if Ozai-and-Hakoda-met scenario. The 'grandbabies' part is just pure grandfather love. :p_

"…Peasant."

"Tyrant."

"Filthy unsophisticated barbarian."

"Cruel sadistic dictator."

"I seriously cannot see what my son sees in your daughter."

"Yeah, well, I don't get why the hell my daughter's all over your son."

"Then it's settled. Our children are idiots when it comes to terms of love."

"That's probably the only point I'll ever agree with you on."

"I hope you won't act as uncivilized as this at the wedding, Hakoda."

"Actually, I'm hoping there won't be a wedding at all."

"Ah." Glare, pause, crafty smile. "Who did you send?"

"My son, Sokka. He's even more protective of his sister's innocence than I am."

"Tell him to contact my daughter. She has some very good pointers on ruining people's happiness."

Awkward pause.

A sigh. "Except…I was hoping to have some grandchildren this year. Spirit knows I've waited long enough."

"Yes. Those two will produce a lot of beautiful grand babies for us, won't they?"

"And of course, I'll be so proud when I take Hakoda-Junior out—"

"_Hakoda_-Junior? They will definitely name their firstborn son after _me_, you filthy peasant!"

"Yeah, after the guy who put a scar on his son's eyeball? Not very likely, pal."

"Why you impertinent little—"

"You narcissistic assh—"

"Dad!"

"Father!"

"Eh, Katara?"

"Zuko?"

"What are you two—er, youngsters doing here?"

"Dad, why is Sokka trying to hack off Zuko's head?"

"Wait...Sokka hack off my son--YOU SENT HIM TO ASSASSINATE MY SON?"

"I SAID I WAS GOING TO STOP THE WEDDING; I DIDN'T SAY HOW!"

"YOU SENT SOKKA TO ASSASSINATE ZUKO?"

"Well, assassinate is such a—"

"YOU SENT SOKKA TO ASSASSINATE _ME_?"

"Look here, young man, where I come from, elders are taught to be respected and I will not—"

"We're leaving, Zuko, and I swear on your great-grandfather Sozin's grave you will never have to come in contact with these filthy—"

"Hey, watch who you're calling filthy—"

"Dim-witted fool!"

"Evil withered crone!"

"Aang, do something!"

"What? I was just walking by and—"

"You're the Avatar, aren't you? Now go make our dads make peace!"

"But I—"

"Zuko!"

"Katara!"

"Dad!"

"Father!"

"Oh spirits, not again."

_**A/N: In case you were wondering, Zuko and Katara had a girl. :D**_


	8. selfmedicating

_A/N: Thank you, Boys like Girls. ;)_

She didn't know why, but there was something about Zuko that soothed her mind infinitely, whether it be running her fingers through his always-soft, shaggy hair, or tracing the contour of veins and splaying her hands against his pallid marble skin, or (her favourite) breathing him in—the scent of incense and ashes and glowing embers with flickers of warmth plying her nostrils.

(Yes, all typical Fire Nation smells, Katara knows: the very essence of the bloodlust and violent destruction that had sprung from the heart of its Nation. But instead of scratching painfully at the back of her throat, Katara is surprised to find how easily she breathes it in, and how it smells homey, almost woody, tinged with nostalgia and comfort and something distinctly like chamomile. For some reason, it doesn't remind her of pain of destruction. It just _glows_, like fireflies or jewels or golden pastry puffs.)

So after almost getting knocked off the temple by one of Aang's stray runaway air scooters, receiving a bruise the size of a kimodo-rhino after Toph accidentally threw a boulder at her spine, then having their dinner blow up in her face after she had (unknowingly) put in one of The Duke and Teo's pepper bombs, you should know it was fairly obvious that Katara was having a Very Bad Day.

So I'm sure you'll agree that it was perfectly justified when after the end of her Very Bad Day, Katara stalked up to where Zuko had been meditating in front of the sunset, yanked him towards her without warning, then buried her face in his neck, her fingers cradling the side of his unscarred face and resting in a black patch of hair, breathing in his scent deeply and slowly.

And Zuko, smart boy that he was, had learned enough that when Katara did something like this, you let her do whatever she wanted first, then questioned why later (unless, of course, you wanted your— er…_manhood_ frozen off.)

A minute passed. Zuko ventures a interruption. "Uh…Katara? What're you—"

"Shut up." Katara snaps back as she inhales another lungful of his smoky aroma. "I'm self-medicating." Her fingers slowly skim over a portion of his cheek. Zuko's heart skips a beat.

They stay like that for quite a while.


	9. smirk

_A/N: Let's hear it for perverted! Zuko! (dances)_

"You know, Katara." Zuko smirks at her, pushing a sheaf of hair from his eyes. She feels infuriated and pleased at the same time. "There's something about you I've never noticed before."

Katara raises her eyebrows as she continues to wade in the fountain to get ready training with Aang.

"You train in your underwear."

Even the fly-crickets stop chirping as they wait for the anticlimax. She feels the overwhelming urge to land a water whip in a _very_ private part of his anatomy.

Zuko smirks. She catches her breath.

"And it's totally hot."

Eyes widen. Nostrils flare as weapons from over protective males are aimed at Zuko's head. Aang drops his glider in shock. Toph laughs maniacally. All hell breaks loose.

"ZUKO! YOUPERVETEDHARDHEADEDDISGUSTINGLITTLE—"

"_Seriously_, Sparky? Who'd think you have the hots for Sugar Queen—"

"Uh, Zuko, I don't think that was—"

He ignores them all, watching for the only reaction that matters: a certain blue-eyed, brown-haired Waterbender.

Katara blushes. Deeply.

Zuko smirks. Wider.


	10. nothing but heroes here

**And HERE is my renewed disclaimer: Me. No. Own. Avatar. Gud? Yes. (now we can stop speaking like cavepeople!)**

_And without further adue, something Zutara-ish that you can think about: :)_

Then they look into each other's eyes.

(**Something clicks in place**)

Stars shift. Planets orbit in elliptical squares. The sky rearranges itself into a convoluted jigsaw puzzle. Ice meets flames, burnished copper meets melting snow on summer days

_Why, hello there, stranger_.

"I want my necklace back, Zuko." She whispers as her fingers inch towards the blue ribbon that hangs limply in the cushion of his hand.

"Not a chance, Katara." His hands grab her wrists, lightening splits the sky in two.

Their eyes draw each other in like magnets, or a spool of thread, their hearts balanced precariously like amateur tightrope walkers upon it.

(_Hot, cold, hot, cold. Fre e e e ze __**buuurn**__. Icebergs chafe against the flames of hell as their bodies mold against each other like ice cream melting over the pavement._)

He groans. Her heart skips a beat. So many emotions their heads feel like splitting apart.

_Wantlustneedlovepassiondesireandmore._

Her fingers twine into his hair and his hands cradle her back. Tension laces the air like drops of acid and arsenic.

(**The heavens halt to a stop, crumbles into something wonderful, and smiles**)

Then Zuko's chin jerks up and Katara's face tilts and their breath mingles.

"Zuko."

"Katara."

Then their mouths fuse together and her hands cradle his scarred cheek while his rest on the curves on her waist, and as they kiss, the sun rains drops of gold.


End file.
